Central & South Asia

Taliban threat to kill Italian

Group wants three of its members freed in exhange for abducted journalist.

11 Mar 2007 07:58 GMT

Several hundred people rallied in Rome on Thursday to call for the release of Mastrogiacomo [EPA]

Credible information

"On the basis of elements received so far from reliable channels ... [the ministry] can confirm that he is alive," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that it had "credible information on those who carried out the kidnapping".

"Contacts are ongoing in order to establish with certainty the intentions and expectations of the kidnappers, with a view to freeing Mastrogiacomo as quickly as possible."

Italy has nearly 2,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a 35,000-strong Nato-led force.

"He is not a spy. He is a real journalist and I know that the people who kidnapped him know very well that he is a real journalist"

Alberto Negri, journalist

The Taliban earlier said they would release Mastrogiacomo if he proved his innocence, but a spokesman said they later changed their mind after

Italy

's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved funding to keep the deployment in the country on Thursday.

On Saturday, Dadullah said: "Our spokespersons should be released and our news should be allowed to be disseminated without censorship."

One Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, was arrested in Afghanistan in January and another, Abdul Latif Hakimi, arrested in Pakistan in October 2005.

Missing journalist

Mastrogiacomo has been missing in southern Afghanistan since last Sunday along with two Afghans, believed to be an interpreter and a driver or guide.

Dadullah said the Afghan driver among the trio had confessed to being an intelligence officer from the province of Helmand, where they were picked up, and to taking pictures of the Taliban stronghold where they were captured.

They were detained around the village of Bowlan, just outside the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, the commander said. The Italian is being kept in "one of our several headquarters in Helmand and is in good health".